The Definition of Imperfection
by MAC the misc.writer
Summary: Two-shot Edgeworth and Franziska discuss how the cases they lost were not perfect to begin with
1. Chapter 1

(The Usual fanfiction disclaimer here. I own nothing.)

It was a bright sunny day as Miles Edgeworth led Franziska Von Karma though a crowded city streets. She proclaimed, "Miles Edgeworth! How much farther is this restaurant of yours?"

Edgeworth replied, as he drew her around the corner. "Here it is. This is the perfect day to enjoy an outdoor restaurant, and this is the best outdoor restaurant in town. Here it is."

As the two prosecutors sat down a waiter said, "Good day, Mister Edgeworth. Your usual tea?"

Edgeworth nodded, and as the waiter left, Edgeworth asked, "So how is your case going, Franziska?"

Franziska clutched her whip and said, "I am aiming for perfection in my case, as usual."

Edgeworth replied, "I was wondering Franziska, have you learned from your failures?"

Franziska readied her whip and yelled, "Why should I torture myself dwelling on my own failures?"

Edgeworth waved his finger and replied, "There is a very wise old saying, you learn more from your failures then by your successes."

She was about to whip him when the waiter arrived with tea. Luckily for Edgeworth, she took her tea instead. "You speak as if I made mistakes. I aimed for perfection, as always."

Edgeworth replied as he finished a sip of tea, "Franziska, if our cases were truly perfect, we would not have prosecuted the wrong person. I remember every case I ever lost, and I know the mistakes I made. I admit I made them, and hope I've learned from them."

Franziska replied, "What mistakes are those?"

Edgeworth shrugged and said, "Tell you what. I'll admit in detail my own mistakes here. Tonight I'll look over your court records, then tell you what you did wrong."

Franziska said, "I doubt you'll find anything noteworthy. It was a fluke that I lost."

Edgeworth thought, "You were wrong in five cases! Five flukes?"

Franziska continued, "Tell me your mistakes."

Edgeworth said, "Franziska, have you ever met Prosecutor Payne?" Franziska shook her head. Edgeworth continued, "I read about his case where Wright was the defendant while researching Dahlia Hawthorne. Payne said in this case that it was the prosecutors duty to believe in his witness. With all due respect to Prosecutor Payne, that's stupid. Witnesses are human. All humans are capable of lying, or being wrong. It is part of a prosecutors job to make sure they are not before presenting them to the court. Wright once told me about his first case, which was against Prosecutor Payne. Payne's one witnesses testimony pretty much was his entire case. Payne's witness was the actual culprit."

Fransiska finished a sip of her tea and said, "Definitly a foolish fool."

Edgeworth continued, "Payne did almost the same thing in his second loss against Wright as well. Oh sure there was other evidence, but Wright showed that the evidence clearly indicated a frame job. Payne did absolutely nothing to make sure his witnesses testimony was not just another part of the frame job. Bottom line Payne should have done something to make sure his witness was trustworthy, and that was the mistake I made in my first case against Wright. It would not have taken much investigating to find out that Mia Fey was trying to take down Bluecorp, and yet I treat the CEO of Bluecorp and his personal secretary as credible witnesses. That pretty much was my entire case. Oh sure there also was the name written in blood but that could easily have been fabricated. I could not come up with a motive as well. Also there was an abnormal amount of pressure from the rest of the prosecutors office on me to get a conviction. That type of pressure for such a low profile case was suspicious in retrospect."

Fransiska replied, "Your second case then."

Edgeworth said, "Ah yes, State Vs. Will Powers. My original case was way too dependent on the testimony of..." Edgeworth stopped to give a slight shudder then continued, "The least reliable witness I've ever had that wasn't actually a criminal. Wright pointed out that the photo of the Steel Samurai heading toward the scene was labeled picture number two, which indicated there was someone else who passed that way. That person was Cody Hackins, and his photo and testimony once it was properly broken down turned the whole case around. I also should have noticed that there wasn't a photo of the victim heading toward the crime scene."

At that moment the waiter came round and asked, "Are you ready, sir and madam?"

After Edgeworth ordered Shrimp skewers and Fransizka ordered a Ceasar Salad. Franziska said, "Next was the Lana Skye case correct?"

Edgeworth nodded, "I was almost charged with gross negligence on that one. I should have known. Meekins told me that the report concerning the incident in the police evidence room was sent to me directly on the chiefs orders. Chief Gant never did anything without a reason. Even though I was locked out of the investigation I should have known that there was too much blood in the evidence room and too little blood in the prosecutors office car park. Also that case would not have happened if I wasn't wrong during SL-9. In my defense the police did give me bogus evidence on that one, but still the coroner did swear to me that the knife wound that killed Neal Marshall was inconsistent with Joe Darkes dagger."

Fransizka said, "As prosecutor you are responsible for the evidence, Miles Edgeworth."

Edgeworth replied, "I followed all established procedures for submitting evidence. Next, state vs. Robert Wolfe. All of the evidence Wright used to prove that the chair was attached to ceiling of the crime scene at the time of the murder was right there. I just didn't pay attention to it. Heck, I was there when Wright noticed that the chair was burnt while the floor was pretty much undamaged. He pointed it out to Maya Fey in my presence." He stopped to take a sip of tea and continued, "Next, State Vs. Julie Hensen. My entire case was that Ms. Hensen was the only person backstage not in a mascot costume, and a person cannot get out of the costume without the help of another person, or commit the murder wearing the costume. I didn't take into account the possibility that a person can get out of a costume without help if they wear the costume backwards. If I did, I would have investigated more."

Franziska replied, "You have one more case left, right?"

Edgeworth nodded, "State Vs. Diana Wheatly. I should have waited for the lab results to come in. The lab results flew in the face of my entire case. I was too quick to point to murder."

Franziska replied, "Foolish mistakes by a foolish fool who follows the path of foolhardy foolish fools. I did not make such foolish mistakes in my cases against Wright."

Edgeworth pulled out a phone and said, "Let's see." He hit a speed-dial button.

It was a few seconds before he heard Gumshoe's voice. "Yes Sir! Mr. Edgeworth, SIR!"

Edgeworth replied, "Detective. I want you to go down to the court records room and pull all of the files and records on any case prosecuted by Franziska Von Karma theat ended in acquittal. Have them on my desk soon."

Gumshoe replied, "Yes SIR!"

Edgeworth hung up the phone just as their food arrived and Edgeworth said, "I'll look over those records tonight and tell you what you did wrong tomorrow."


	2. Chapter 2

As Edgeworth sat down to tea in his office the next day, he heard Franziska snapping her whip outside. As she entered the office, she cried, "ARRGH! THE WHIP IS NOT ENOUGH! TOO ANGRY! WAY TOO ANGRY!"

Edgeworth put down his tea and said, "Bad day in court?"

Franziska said, "Miles, do you know Kristoph Gavin's schedule? Can you find a time when I can get him alone so I can whip him into oblivion? He tried to totally screw me over in court today!"

Edgeworth asked, "What happened?"

Franziska said, "A few days ago, I was reviewing the evidence for my current case when I noticed something. You see the coroner was unable to give me exact time of death. Yesterday, I noticed something at the crime scene. It was a table next to a broken window. Also at the scene was some of the victims personal photos. They showed a mechanical clock on the table. I looked around outside the window and found the clock. The time it stopped at fit nicely with my witnesses testimony. In court today he claimed the clock I had was a fake that I made up and that HE had the actual clock! It was my word against his, and my reputation for being ruthless in court didn't help, so no charges of evidence forgery will stick."

Edgeworth picked up his tea and said, "A pity. I've recently worked on a case with his brother, Prosecutor Klavier Gavin. At first, I was hesitant. I found it strange to work with a prosecutor that moonlights as a rock musician. However, he was able to prove himself to me as an honorable prosecutor. It seems that honor isn't really a family trait. Don't worry Franziska. Someone like Kristoph Gavin will get his just deserts eventually."

Franziska replied, "Perhaps. I still would like to wipe that smug smile off his face when court reconvenes tomorrow. I took some of your advice, Miles."

Edgeworth took a sip and replied, "How?"

Franziska sat down and said, "I realized that my case was dependent on my witnesses testimony, and did a rather extensive background check on him. I found nothing that raised any type of red flag."

Edgeworth nodded and said, "I'll trust your judgment on that one. You want some more advice? I've looked over your files."

Franziska sat down and said, "Fine. My first loss, the Kurain Village incident."

Edgeworth picked up the file and said, "Whether or not you noticed the dissappearing bullet hole, it was still an imperfection. As for the key to the channeling chamber, you might have gotten it from Little Pearl, if you investigated a bit more. Either way, whatever your explanation for these contradictions was, it must have been dependent on the testimony of Morgan Fey and Miss Miney, since you put them on the stand next. It would not have taken much to find out that Morgan Fey would want Maya eliminated so Pearl can claim the title of Master of Kurain. As for Miney, since Wright threw the idea that Maya was the murderer into considerable doubt, if it wasn't her, it was very likely Miney. Wright, Lotta Hart, and Morgan Fey were together at the time of the murder, and Miss Miney was the only other adult in Fey Manor at the time. Also it would have been wise to try to get what testimony you could get from Little Pearl. If you did you would have found out that Pearls testimony, and Mineys testimony just didn't work together."

Franziska said, quickly, "State Vs. Billy Bob Johns AKA Maximillion Galactica"

Edgeworth smirked, "Did you really use a ventriloquist dummy as a witness?" That earned him a quick whipping. "ARRGH! I'll let it pass because he wasn't your primary witness. Otherwise.. No motive, no murder weapon, and the clowns testimony showed two contradictions. No roses, and the clown claimed the culprit left the scene still wearing the hat that was found at the scene."

Franziska said, "NEXT!"

Edgeworth said, "State Vs. Iris Hawthorne."

Franziska replied, "That was Armando who got the acquittal."

Edgeworth replied, "You were the initial prosecutor, and Iris Hawthorne was innocent. No motive, and it was obvious to me that the the murder weapon was wrong."

Franziska yelled, "NEXT! My first case against Russi Clover."

Edgeworth picked up the file and flipped through it. He then said, "Moira Cytheria was acting quite unnaturally throughout the incident. First she predicted the murder would happen. Secondly, she destroyed the wall at the crime scene with rather shoddy justification. Perhaps if you investigated the wall, you would have found the real reason why."

Franziska said, "Finally, my second case against Russi Clover."

Edgeworth took out a paper and said, "I have a transcript of Gumshoe interviewing Maya after the incident. He asked Maya about seeing the victim standing on the third floor. Maya told Gumshoe of the pictures she took. It wouldn't have been hard for you to get those pictures. If you did, you might have seen the victim standing without his crutch."

Franziska took out a file and paged through it, "Talking like this, is making me doubt the motive of my current case."

Edgeworth said, "What is the motive?"

Franziska replied, "The defendant is dating the victims sister. The victim was opposed to the relationship from the very beginning. My witnesses testimony fits, but that doesn't seem to be enough of a motive. Perhaps I need to do some more investigating."

Edgeworth put his tea down and said, "Well, if your testimony fits, and Gavin had to resort to underhanded tactics, I do believe your defendant is guilty. Still, I'd pay close attention to who your defendant is. Maybe you can uncover a hidden truth."

A few hours later, Franziska ran into Edgeworths office, grabbed Edgeworth by the shoulders and kissed him. She said, "The victim hired a private detective to investigate his sisters relationship. He found out the defendant works for the Cadaverinis! Not only did I get a conviction, but the federals are saying that with the evidence I pulled, they can deal a major blow to the Cadaverinis! Oh, I loved the look on Gavin's face when I saw the evidence I produced."

Edgeworth smirked and said, "Excellent. It's about time we struck a blow against the Cadaverinis."

Franziska said, "You know, Miles, I did like the restaurant you brought me too yesterday. Want to go there tonight?" 


End file.
